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6/28/2009

yesterday I made good progress on my vampire doll. and then I made garlic butter!

so far the two get along well - and me and vampire (I don't have a name yet) get along too, I think I'm not too smelly =^__^= or maybe its nose does not function that good?

(the body is alot smaller than my normal doll bodies and the head is a bit bigger and also has a new shape. And I decided on a nose too, think it's kind of cute)

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now that I look at the pictures this body can also work as a star trek mr. Spok doll. So far I only found the shape of the head reminds me of doozers, you know the little 'construction workers' from the fraggles.

6/25/2009

just a small cute post before I go to bed. I tried noses for my vampire-gurumi today. And I also tried a new head shape. I like the shape of the head alot (gives enough space for eyes and hair and other details) and I prefer the second nose below (the left one above) although it is positioned too far below here, but it was just a test to see how to shape it. The only problem is I prefer the look of the nose (both noses actually) "the other way round", which means for me that this will be a doll that I start at the butt instead of the top of its head.

6/24/2009

I planed to write this post about how sporty I am (cough-cough), now that I have new shoes. But the first session at the health club turned out to be talking only and get to know everything there. I liked what I saw and decided to do more sports month ago so I signed and now all I have to feel sporty about is the 11,2 km I walked yesterday while shopping. Yes more than 11 kilometers! My mobile counts every step I take so know exactly and it said 14.559 steps.

and for the rest of this day I plan to make this circle into a vampire doll. I made some sketches for a vampire a few weeks ago and now believe I could write together a "halloween pattern" that would include my Betti Bats, this vampire (that might have a nose) and a small itsy, bitsy spider.

6/21/2009

I spent an ordinary weekend, after being to Hannover oncemore on friday. I've not been in the mood for knitting or crochet lately so I didn't bring my yarn with me on the train. The journey there was quite nice, I had my mp3 and enjoyed the view but the way home I knew would get boring so I spent a good amount of time in the book shop at the train station and found a book I was searching for for a long time. I bought the new novel written by Walter Moers, one of the authors I read every book of, and this does not happen very often. The book is: "Der Schrecksenmeister" and it was finally available as paperback, I had the hard cover on my amazon wishlist for nearly two years, I think. It's a "culinary journey through zamonia, retold by Hildegunst von Mythenmetz" I don't know how all this translates to english but I saw the translation is called "the Alchemaster's Apprentice: a Novel"(website)

Coming home I saw that my chili peppers started to see day light, while the limes are still hiding in the soil.

Yesterday I got myself new sneakers - no more "I can't do sports now, I don't have shoes", probably this lack of excuses will make me do more sports. So be aware when you feel a sudden wind, it might be me, hehehe!

and even thouh I'm not really in the mood for crafts I still made something. I crocheted a viking horn. You might find the color irritating, but the pink was at hand when I started and I find the idea of a helmet with pink horns amusing. I made this horn as a test for a friend earlier this week and now wonder what else this shape might be useful for. Alien feet, birds beak, tails?

6/16/2009

I need a new woman suit and the search for it in stores was a disaster: I wanted something flattering with a knee long skirt that is not too tight, a lovely A-line and I wanted something that didn't made me look like my mom. What I found was: only black, or only with throusers or only with pencil skirts (I wonder who invented these, I don't know any woman who can wear these proundly AND look good). And in the last store I finally found a skirt that I liked, only thing: it was white. Well ... hm ... I can dye it, when I find a matching jacket, I can simply dye it. And what should I say I found a matching jacket, same fabric, both 100 % linen, both white.

So right now skirt and jacket are in the washing machine running the first cicle:

I choose a brown color - it's classic but not too elderly and it will have contrasting seams since the sewing thread typically is polyester and won't take the dye. The lining of the jacket was white too and will stay white as well. I believe I will replace the white buttons, but need to have a look at them when the jacket and skirt are finshed and dry again.

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two hours and a normal washing cicle later:

the skirt is already dry and ironed while the jacket is still wet. I like the outcome of the color although I planed on a lighter version of the brown pictured on the dye package. And what really surprised me: the buttons have turned brown too! I think I will let them be where they are now. If they would have stayed completely white I would have replaced them with a contrasting color, maybe a nice moss green, but the light brown looks good.

6/10/2009

leaving for Hannover once more this week, this time for a congress. If you want to know how my "party weekend" was, well it's not been the distraction or relief I had hoped for (when the man who broke your heart appears there too without letting you know in advance, you feel a slight electric shock, so did I and this resulted in alot of tears the last days, good thing is I now know that tears have the pH value of about 9, don't know if you ever wondered about this, but now I know)

Anyway I start to get over it and slowly but surely feel better and I wanted to show you what happens around here when I'm not at home. First: yarn arrives at the neighbours and now made itself comfortable in my room. This is Bouquet from SunnysideEllen, from etsy. She has awesome colorways and I fell in love with the green/pink one the minute I saw it. I want to make knee highs and after realizing I would need two skeins I started realizing that this might be the most expansive socks I will ever wear. But I needed it, I adore it and green and pink goes fantastic with my other wardrobe so I bought it. Now it's mine. I'm not sure yet which pattern to choose. I think the yarn is selfstriping and I want to show off both, the yarn and the knitting I put into these so I want a nice stitch pattern, also I think plain stockinette for a whole knee high sock might be a bit boring to make.

Next to my yarn there arrived seeds from all over the world, even malaysia, I didn't expected these to really make to my home since I know that it actually isn't really all that legal to import non-native plants, but they arrived so I don't feel guilty. I already started to put them into their new beds. Below you can see my mini-"greenhouses" for one key lime, one rangpur lime, one cherry sized chilie pepper and one normal sized which should be black, I'm curious about this one. Also I wonder how sweet the cherry sized one will be, it says sweet but what is sweet when compared to chili peppers?

And in case my crocheting friends started to wonder if I still crochet, yes I do!, I started thinking about a cute way to make an elefant. It's trunk gives me some head scratchers.

EDIT: oh I almost forgot, the icarus socks are growing. I printed the rounds of the first sock and knitted on the train on the second sock, so they are both about the same size now and almost finished. I really like how they turn out.

What I really love is how they look when not worn, how the lace pattern 'contracts' the front and how the wing design looks so organic, lovely!

I received mails if I might put out a pattern and though why not, although I need to warn you that this will not be a "real pattern", but more a good guide to create yous own, I have no idea how to write a complete sock pattern and don't want to mess around with sizing and gauges and how to make toes or heels, but I will include everything you will need to know about the shaping of the calf and what happens throughout the pattern that gives certain effects. But please bear with me, it will take a bit of time until I can put a pdf out.

6/05/2009

I just spend some time reading my blog feeds (there were nearly 400 unread posts in it, unbelievable) and while doing so I found out that the new twist collective is out. There is a lot of lace in there this summer. And I started smiling when I saw niles and cleo:

I will spend the weekend in Hannover. I haven't been in the mood for this trip lately but since I booked the hotel months ago I thought I might go. It might be quite nice to go and to get out of my routine, try to get my mind away from the heartache and enjoy myself.

6/03/2009

I have been pretty busy lately, life interferes whenever it gets a chance to.

Anyway I did a few things, one was baking, which I haven't done in quite a long time, if you live alone like me, you know how unwilling one can get to cook more than pasta or other simple food that doesn't require many preparations. So two weeks ago I had friends coming over. We normally have a regular meeting to cook, eat and laugh together but didn't manage to see each other that often lately. This years Ascension Day was a thursday and I took the oportunity and invited for dinner. I prepared "picknick-snacks" which I had seen a few weeks ago on telly. (find the original recipe here, it's german though)

it's actually pretty simple if you have enough time.

you make a normal pizza dough / bread dough as you like and treat it like puff pastry, meaning to put butter on top and fold the dough so the butter is covered completely, then roll the dough again and fold once more. Now roll and fold again. Roll to the size you want and start to add the topping. I made three versions. One pizza-style, one like onion-tarte (I have no idea how to better call this in english, I'm sure there is a proper name for this, it's basically onion rings and bacon on some sour cream) and the third version is with frozen veggies on top of sour cream.Now cover everything with cheese and wrap it up. First top down and then bottom up. spreaded with egg yolk and cut into pieces and bake for about 20 minutes at 170°C or until golden.

We liked the version with the vegies and the onions the most. I haven't had tomatoes on the pizza version which I find where missing, but since I didn't knew how wet the dough might get I didn't want to make experiments.

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I also knitted. I turned this swatch into a new stocking, or into the beginning of a new stocking. I started with two at a time (I fear I'm a candidate for second sock syndrom if I wouldn't do both at once) but since I frogged some times I decided to continue with only one and write down every single thing I do. I needed to re-knit the heel because on the first try it turned out too small and also a bit too tight. So I increased a few stitches which I decreased again after the heel and started with the wings very soon. I like the look of it and I also enjoy the yarn more than the brown one, it's alot smoother although it often feels quite dry. And I think the mint color would be better with a more "floral" pattern but I still like it with my design.I frogged a big part of the leg again later because the insert that I made created some strange "bending" in the rest of the lace sections of the front. Now I only increase purl stitches between the single lace parts and it looks alot better.

The wings create a strange feel to the skin too. The pattern somehow shifts to the back of my leg and the sock feels quite tight even if it still has a lot of ease. Very strange but I thing I will enjoy wearing them, might also have a great effect on preventing varicose veins=^__^=

Not so funny, I'm single again. Nine days ago I got the final call. It's not like I didn't saw it coming, we had a long distance relationship, which is hard and now that he suffers from burn out syndrome he can't stand the "situation" any longer. I always tried to be understanding and calm and "be there for him" (as far as one can be if you're not living together) but it seems that it's finally over now.

Current mood: often sad

Resulting current distraction: my green thumb. I read alot lately about my plants and fertilizers and waterings and stuff and I learned why my lemon tree always signals me he wants to die in winter time. And to top it all I ordered all sorts of new seeds, alot of chili peppers and tomatoes but also a red kiwi, didn't know there was such a thing. I will try to grow them this season even though I know it might be too late already to have fruits this year.

ABOUT ME

My name is Diana and I am passionate about crocheting, knitting and pattern designing. I also craft, bake, cook and rant.If you find something that inspires you, please brighten my day by letting me know.And if you find an error in one of my patterns, send me a gentle nudge so that I can fix it.